What is Decolonizing Yoga?
Decolonizing yoga is a critical framework and evolving movement that examines how yoga has been extracted from its South Asian cultural, spiritual, and philosophical roots, repackaged for Western consumption, and often divorced from its original ethical and devotional contexts. The term describes both scholarly analysis and practical efforts to acknowledge yoga’s colonial history, address power imbalances in how yoga is taught and profited from, and center the voices and traditions of South Asian practitioners and lineage holders. It challenges the dominant narrative of yoga as a $16 billion Western wellness industry while advocating for practices that honor yoga’s origins, compensate South Asian teachers equitably, and recognize yoga as a living tradition rather than a commodity.
The framework emerged from postcolonial theory, critical race studies, and grassroots advocacy by South Asian diaspora practitioners who observed how yoga had been stripped of its Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain philosophical dimensions in Western contexts. Decolonizing yoga interrogates who profits from yoga, whose bodies are centered in yoga marketing, which aspects of the tradition are embraced versus erased, and how practitioners can engage with yoga without perpetuating extraction or erasure.
Origins & Lineage
The concept of decolonizing yoga gained traction in the 2010s, emerging from broader conversations about cultural appropriation and decolonization in wellness spaces. Scholars and practitioners including Susanna Barkataki, author of Embrace Yoga’s Roots (2020), Shreena Gandhi and Lillie Wolff’s 2016 essay examining yoga and cultural appropriation, and organizations like the South Asian American Digital Archive (SAADA) have documented how British colonialism in India (1858-1947) disrupted indigenous knowledge systems and yoga practices.
Historically, British colonial authorities often dismissed yoga as superstitious or primitive, even as Western interest in “exotic” Eastern practices grew. By the early 20th century, figures like Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) brought yoga philosophy to Western audiences at the 1893 Parliament of World Religions in Chicago. Later, teachers like Indra Devi, B.K.S. Iyengar, and Pattabhi Jois introduced asana-focused practices to Western students in the mid-20th century.
The decolonization critique notes that as yoga migrated westward, it was progressively stripped of its Sanskrit terminology, philosophical scaffolding (including the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and Bhagavad Gita), and ethical foundations (the yamas and niyamas). By the 1990s and 2000s, Western yoga had become predominantly associated with physical fitness, thin white bodies, and luxury lifestyle branding—a transformation scholars describe as a form of ongoing colonization.
How It’s Practiced
Decolonizing yoga is not a single practice style but a lens applied across multiple dimensions of engagement:
Educational integration: Teachers study yoga’s philosophical texts, acknowledge their South Asian teachers by name, and contextualize asana within the broader eight-limbed path described in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.
Language restoration: Practitioners learn correct Sanskrit pronunciation, understand the meanings of terms like namaste, asana, and pranayama, and avoid using Sanskrit inappropriately or superficially.
Financial equity: Studios and practitioners direct resources toward South Asian teachers, donate to organizations supporting communities in India and the diaspora, and question pricing structures that make yoga accessible only to affluent populations.
Representation: Marketing, teacher training programs, and class spaces actively center South Asian bodies, voices, and leadership rather than defaulting to Western practitioners as authorities.
Acknowledgment of lineage: Teachers openly credit their teachers and the unbroken chains of transmission (parampara) that preserved practices across generations, rather than claiming innovation or personal branding.
Ethical practice: Practitioners engage with the yamas (ethical restraints) and niyamas (observances), including ahimsa (non-harm), satya (truthfulness), and aparigraha (non-possessiveness), applying these principles to social justice, environmental responsibility, and community accountability.
Decolonizing Yoga Today
Seekers encounter decolonizing yoga through workshops, teacher trainings, books, and online communities dedicated to equity in wellness spaces. Organizations like the Yoga and Body Image Coalition and teachers offering “equity in yoga” trainings address accessibility, pricing structures, and representation. Social media has amplified South Asian voices critiquing appropriation, with hashtags like #decolonizeyoga creating space for education and dialogue.
Some studios now offer sliding-scale pricing, land acknowledgments, and curricula that include yoga history and philosophy beyond asana. Annual events like South Asian Heritage Month have become opportunities for studios to platform South Asian teachers and educate students about yoga’s origins. Simultaneously, debates continue about whether Western practitioners can ever truly “decolonize” their practice or whether the term itself is performative without structural change in the wellness industry.
Common Misconceptions
Decolonizing yoga does not mean that non-South Asian people cannot practice yoga, nor does it demand that all practitioners be Hindu, Buddhist, or Jain. It is not about gatekeeping or creating rigid authenticity tests.
It does not require abandoning physical asana practice in favor of purely devotional or philosophical study, though it does encourage understanding asana as one component of a larger system.
It is not a marketing trend or brand identity. Claims like “our studio is decolonized” often miss the point that decolonization is an ongoing process of accountability, not a destination or credential.
The framework does not assume a monolithic “authentic” yoga frozen in time. South Asian traditions have always been diverse, evolving, and influenced by historical exchange. Decolonizing yoga acknowledges this complexity rather than romanticizing an imagined pure past.
How to Begin
Read Embrace Yoga’s Roots: Courageous Ways to Deepen Your Yoga Practice by Susanna Barkataki, which offers accessible history, self-reflection prompts, and practical guidance. Explore the writings of scholar-practitioners like Jesal Parikh, Hala Khouri, and organizations like Yoga Is Dead (a podcast examining yoga, power, and appropriation).
Seek out South Asian teachers in your area or online, compensating them fairly for their knowledge. Study foundational texts like the Yoga Sutras or Bhagavad Gita with qualified teachers who can provide cultural and historical context.
Ask questions in your current yoga spaces: Who profits? Whose lineage is acknowledged? What aspects of tradition are included or excluded? Approach inquiry with humility, recognizing that decolonizing one’s practice is gradual, uncomfortable, and requires sustained commitment to learning and repair.